This week I’m talking to Aleka Shunk of AlekasGetTogether.com (https://alekasgettogether.com/) , a blog where you can find the exact thing you need to celebrate any event. Aleka talks about some of her favorite entertaining ideas, and shares a wonderful recipe (https://alekasgettogether.com/greek-lemon-chicken-soup/) that is very special to her.
Aleka’s Links:
Aleka’s Surprise Recipe (https://alekasgettogether.com/greek-lemon-chicken-soup/)
Blog: AlekasGetTogether (https://alekasgettogether.com/)
IG: @AlekasGetTogether (https://www.instagram.com/alekasgettogether/)
FB: @AlekasGetTogether (https://www.facebook.com/alekasgettogether)
TT: @AlekasGetTogether (https://www.tiktok.com/@alekasgettogether)
Christine’s recipes mentioned in this episode:
Creamy Cucumber Salad (https://thecookful.com/creamy-cucumber-salad-with-dill/)
The Best Deviled Eggs (https://thecookful.com/how-to-make-amazing-deviled-eggs/)
Fish Cakes (https://thecookful.com/fish-cakes/)
Baked Tilapia (https://thecookful.com/baked-tilapia/)
Balsamic Chicken Breast (https://thecookful.com/fish-cakes/)
it’s time for rotd weekend so this is a little bit surreal it is the 1,000th episode of this podcast and I know I’ve mentioned that it was coming up but it still came as a bit of a surprise and in I don’t know typical me fashion I haven’t done anything really exciting to announce this to the world this is me not being great at social media right like I should have graphics with fireworks and explosions and all kinds of things going on and well I haven’t done all of that and instead I am just sharing this with you out there listening it is very exciting this whole thing started well I first started podcasting during the pandemic in 2020 with a weekly show and then had the idea for The Daily Show and didn’t really think it through super much I just had the idea one day and a week and a half later I was recording episodes and haven’t stopped and here we are I know that part of the reason that I keep doing it is that it has become part of my routine and it’s become part of my business and all of that of course but also I know that I have become a part of a lot of your routines I hear from a lot of you that you listen every day or most days or that you can’t wait to see the new episodes and I really love that you’re out there listening and I really appreciate it and I feel like we’re performing this community I mean certainly I feel a sense of community getting to know you I’ve had some listeners on this show already we had one go live and I have another couple episodes with podcast listeners as guests sharing surprise recipes coming up oh and if you would like to be a guest on this podcast I will put a link in the show notes where you can fill it a little form and let me know that you want to do it and then I will be in touch but yeah that little bit of Community the sense that I’m not just talking out to nowhere but that there are people and I’m getting so many ideas from you all I hear from you by email and also in comments to the recipes on my site that I’m always asking you to leave and the Facebook group I really love that I see so many of you in there and yeah I think you know why I keep doing this it feels more connected than what I was doing before so you know of course that I have had cook the story since well 2009 2010 depending on what you count and you know putting recipes out there and it felt fairly one directional I’m not complaining about that part of that is because I don’t love social media AR I’m not great at social media so I was never really starting conversations but I was putting information out there and not always getting information back from the people who were finding and making my recipes and I just think the podcast media ium like fits with me resonates with me and it has become the way that this conversation is is starting and growing so I just want to say a big thank you for being part of this conversation for listening for being out there I really appreciate it and I love doing this I am not going to stop episode 1,000 I’m going to just keep going and I will have another celebration at episode 2000 I guess in a couple of years so yeah big thank you and now on with the rest of the show in the theme of celebrations I have the perfect guest for today I am talking with ala Shunk from ala’s gett together.com Ala is all about celebrations and parties this one has the exact drink the exact appetizer the exact thing you need to celebrate any event and she is my guest today telling me about some of her favorite entertaining ideas and with a special wonderful recipe so let’s listen to my conversation with ala [Music] Shunk pick up the phone don’t have to do it alone it’s time to turn it around ala Shunk welcome to the show thank you so much for having me I’m excited to be here I’m excited to have you especially because we are going to have this episode go live on Memorial Day weekend and yeah and I know you are just an expert at entertaining and all all things summer also it seems like to me like everything’s so vibrant and beautiful can you tell me first like how did you get started in this sort of writing about talking about entertaining where did this come from well I I used to be a teacher and like 10 some 10 plus years ago um before kids I would throw lots of like you know small get togethers and parties and one of my game night get together somebody had mentioned to start a blog and I was obviously teaching at the time so I wasn’t really looking to switch careers right when I got started but I was very intrigued because I was teaching math and math isn’t very creative obviously so and I have a super creative side to me that I like to you know show through food and and entertaining and like DIY type of stuff so I kind of looked into it and realized that people do make money and could make more money as it that more money than teacher being a blogger and I was like okay like let me look into it more and I just feel like if you’re passionate about something you can make money off of it and I was like the blog is like the best opportunity to do that that’s under my control and my time so I went that route while I was teaching for five years and eventually supplement it and turn it into a full-time career that is so wonderful and exciting congratulations I know this it’s a steep learning curve and there is tons that goes into it I love that you just talked about the creativity involved because I think it’s we don’t always realize how much like recipe development and and photo styling and just coming up with these ideas involves like so much creativity you don’t just it’s not just like artists who are drawing who are creative right no because you need to test the rest you have ideas but that doesn’t mean it’s always going to turn out right in your head you know to the kitchen so the testing involved is obviously a lot of work too and then like for me when I started I I wanted to create unique recipes that haven’t been done anywhere then later I found out that’s not good for SEO and blah blah blah but now that you know I’m like you know seven years in I’m trying to do a balance of unique creative recipes which are really what make me make make it so much fun to just be you know use your creativity and there’s so there’s literally no limits to the type of recipes that we all can create and I don’t know it’s just it’s just super fun and I wake up middle of the night like of with new recipes in my head I don’t know if you but I’m always like oh my God that would be such a good idea and I’m like I’ll remember that in the morning and I never do so I started writing things down um I really think my best ideas are in the middle of the night I’m not even kidding my mine happened in the shower like I think it’s those few minutes when you know cuz I’m going if I’m exercising I usually have a podcast or music or something that I put on quite often in the shower like it’s quiet and I’m in there and then I’m like and then I can’t get out a paper and pencil cuz I’m wet and put the soap on the wall and WR in the soap so good okay so creative ideas abound with you and if somebody is having some people over this weekend last minute something going on what can they do to just make that get together a little bit more special do you have ideas yes I have like so many ideas around summer and Memorial Day and you know patriotic which you know goes hand inand with Memorial Day so first thing I always like make sure to have a drink ready to go it can be alcoholic it can be non-alcoholic whatever it is I feel like just pulling out you know a canned drink isn’t the same as something out of the fridge that’s like freshly made homemade in the picture that you spent time and put your love into making or mixing um and it doesn’t have to be complicated so something like obviously Margaritas are like one of my favorite things to make and serve most people like a margarita whether you’re a male or female less sweet more sweet so many different variations of margaritas out there um I like to do a batched margarita because you can mix all the ingredients up a of time it’s just tequila quantra or triple SE Agave or simple syrup and then fresh squeez lime juice and it’s super straightforward you mix that up put it in a big picture I have so many large pictures that I put in my fridge it chills and then when your company comes you just bring out your favorite glass fill it with ice you can Rim it with salt or whatever taheen whatever you like and then pour the margarita mix in and 5 seconds later your your guest will have a drink and they can even help themselves you stick that on top of ice and throughout the whole party you can serve that so that’s definitely something you should make like now for the weekend and then lemon cello Spritz is another super fun summer drink that’s like light and citrusy and really pretty to serve that’s the same idea you can do that in advance also but because it has H sparkling water in it you have to wait until you’re about ready to serve and then you top it with the bubbly water to keep it super effervescent and fresh and that’s just lemonchello vodka and and um the bubbly water it’s super simple I have that recipe on my blog and garnished with like a big lemon wheel and then some fresh mint or basil for some color and it’s like just nobody turns that down I I love that idea I I agree with you the picture is just of of like already mixed is just such a it’s so inviting and it looks like you could see the coldness The Chill on the glass you know what I mean it’s condensation yeah yeah yeah just you just want to drink it you know and I think also what what I think about the kind of pitcher idea or having that ready to go is sometimes when people are first arriving at a party they’re not really sure what to do maybe they don’t know each other or maybe you’re busy putting they brought an appetizer you’re putting it somewhere now they’re by themselves they have something to do with their hands they’re they’re just doing something right I know yes and it’s super uncomfortable because they don’t you know they don’t want to help themselves right away unless you they’re your siblings or a super close friend so having that on the counter and saying like help yourself or yeah here I just let me port for you super quick or have your husband or significant other help you do that while you’re doing something else it’s it’s like I’m telling you it’s the easiest way and then who doesn’t like walking into somebody’s house greeted with a drink within like five minutes it’s you’re not giving them a drink of five minutes it’s not you know kind of setting up the rest of the get together for I don’t know not as much fun yeah no I’m with you for sure for sure okay after drinks do you have any other ideas for making things so I mean you want there I feel like sweets are a diamond dozen but Savory I don’t know which direction do you want me to go in I don’t something like okay now I feel like I’m going to be giving you a a difficult task something like just like really simple and savory like if you found out that somebody’s coming over tonight and you’re like oh oh jeez what am I going to do do you have something that I have a watermelon and feta salad that is like perfect for summer and I love the salty sweet like f cheese and watermelon has been on our family’s dinner table since I was a child so that is my favorite combination and then watermelon is obviously starting to getting seasoned now added like a little dressing with the salad like very simple light mixture of like mint and cucumbers I put in there and it’s like such a great combination what on my goodness let me see what else is in there I have all these recipes on my site and you can never remember all the ingredients there’s mint oh I put red onions cuz I’m like obsessed with red onions giv it like a bite to your salads I also put um lemon juice and a little bit of honey and of course sea salt to match you know T bring in the feted cheese um and then I cut the watermelon into like inch squares and then the feted cheese into a little bit smaller chunks and then toss that all together and it’s I I’ve gotten many rave reviews over that as well and it’s super easy to make you can do it the night before even you just have to find a good watermelon I feel like that will make or break the salad and it’s so hard to find when they’re when they’re like right in season they’re good all the time but then like when you’re when you’re not sure you’re in Florida like I am I thought and this is my first winter where I’ve actually experimented with trying like different fruits because I’m like ah we’re in the warmer weather maybe no not one watermelon that I pick this winter was good so wherever they’re getting them from from obviously is not it’s I’m I can’t wait for that juicy summer watermelon it’ll happen and it happens sooner than other places I mean it’s like it’s like the strawberry right we get strawberries before anybody now they’re the best like right now into like June they’re the you can’t have there you can’t find a bad one no I know oh and it’s so funny because when I first moved here a long time ago at this point but when I first moved here I’d go into the grocery store around now and they’re on sale for like buy buy one get three free and I thought there was something wrong with them I’m like what is wrong with these strawberries I know it’s just because they’re they’re here and they’re in season and there’s so many that they can’t get through them fast enough so good okay so you’ve already been telling me all kinds of food ideas but have you brought a surprise recipe to walk me through today yeah so my recipe is not as summer friendly it’s it’s a soup actually but it’s one that’s more unique and near and dear to my heart because it’s something that I grew up eating and it’s called avinol I love this yes it’s so good okay yes so in case people don’t know I’ve so before I moved to Florida I lived in Toronto for 10 years and I lived in Greek Town so the Danforth and like they had they had a Greek Food Festival every year Street Festival I guess it’s just a food festival but a lot of Greek restaurants and it was like our walking distance place like we’re going out for dinner on a Friday night we’re having Greek food cuz we’ve just wandered into Greek Town you know so yes Avo lemono I’m probably not saying it right but like so good yes it’s it’s a so if you don’t know Avo is egg in Greek and lemono is lemon so it’s an egg lemon soup um I make it with chicken it has like a pasta or rice in it as well and it’s literally my favorite soup to eat not just because it’s nostalgic but it’s super super healthy it’s gluten-free dairy free it doesn’t taste it um but it’s thicker than a chicken noodle soup you know like it’s like when you want like a harder soup but you don’t want the heaviness of the cream or the dairy it’s literally it’s my it’s my go-to and it’s not hard to make and I like start in the mornings and I let it go all day and it’s my so it’s riched it’s actually thickened with the egg right yeah yes so the egg as you temper it with the chicken stock it thickens and becomes like fluffy and foamy and it gives the soup a different color like a more of an opaque color cloudy color and it creates like a richness to the soup so it and then with the rice that’s in it usually it’s just it’s so much better 10 times better than just regular old chicken noodle and then and then I mean I know you said this isn’t a summery soup and I know that living here in Florida lemons are a winter fruit supposedly but lemons scream summer to me right I know and I like I don’t know about you but I’m originally from like uh South Jersey where which is near Jersey you know not the Jersey Shore like North Jersey but like Ocean City south and down there like clam chowers and those white and those white clam Chow is so popular in the summertime because clams right clams a seafood it’s all summery and I would love getting a hot bowl of clam Chow after going off the beach even if it was summertime so this is like my way to still get that comfort from a bowl of soup in the summertime without the cream and to be honest our air conditioner is so cold in the summer that I’m freezing and I need something to warm me up half the time anyway you know what’s so funny is I like we don’t have as much season as other people have right so like it’s winter and I’m grilling it’s summer and I’m making soup and it’s just it’s kind of all over the place exactly oh I love it Floridians we’re we’re weirdos okay okay so when you’re making Greek lemon soup where do you start so okay you can make it simple you can make it I don’t want to say complicated but you can make it more drawn out which is making your own chicken stock broth same thing right so the easy way is just starting with a storeall stock that you like and then really it’s only six ingredients and it’s super fast and it it could take you less than a half hour to make but the longer version which is a 100 times tastier in my opinion will take you about four to 5 hours minimum because making a good chicken stock has to simmer for at least in my opinion 3 hours so we start with the chicken stock which is probably one of my favorite things to make because it makes me think of just I mean when you walk do you ever walk in your parents house when you’re younger and like you smell I don’t know if your if your parents cook but if you did then you’re familiar with those homy smells of like dinners coming later like it’s just so such a warm comforting feeling so I will put this on in the mornings by like 10: at the latest and I’ll have it just sitting in on the stove all day so then I forget about it and then right before dinner I whip it up so it’s really not like it’s not as complicated or long as it seems because you forget about it and you get to smell it all day yeah no no I’m with you yeah it’s it’s so it’s so good I think you know they talk about like when you’re trying to sell a house you should like bake bread in the house to make it smell good and I’m like no no no chicken soup chicken soup onions fries some onion into garlic and have a pot of chicken soup going on the stove and that house is going to sell that is gonna sell so okay so starting with your own stock you just need obviously water and chicken to begin with and the best I usually get the whole Rooster Chicken like the whole thing those little four pound three to four pound chickens and I’ll throw the whole thing in there um as an alternative you can get chicken thighs whatever you get make sure the bone is in there because that’s where the flavor come from comes from you can’t just you know simmer Chen breasts it’s not going to boneless sh it’s not going to work you know what I I’m wondering if you’ve tried this before cuz I shop at Aldi sometimes and they have this like bag of chicken leg quarters that I I it’s like $5 for a ridiculous size bag yeah yeah yeah it’s it’s super cheap and I I do that’s my like chicken stck when those are on sale I’m just like oh big bag of chicken quarters perfect for so yeah so three or four pounds of any type of chicken with the bone in cover it with water so whatever size pan you have and then comes the flavor right I you can just stay there St just do chicken broth just super simple but then I’ll add obviously a couple stocks of celery a couple of carrots one or two onions depending how big they are some gar you can even go crazy put some garlic cloves in there um I like to put thy in to flavor it like a good herb but any fresh herb would work in the stock pepper corns is always a classic stock you know flavor uh infuser and then sometimes I’ll put parsley but that’s really I mean that’s it’s super simple you don’t have to get crazy with it and then that you just let it sit and simmer for three so you bring to a boil everything in there make sure it’s all covered don’t leave the lid off and then let it simmer um once it boils bring it down to a simmer for three to four hours or you can go longer like you know sometimes at 2 o’clock I’m not ready to tackle the soup because I’m still working so I’ll turn it down super low and I’ll let it simmer or I’ll just turn it off and then I’ll strain it later when it cools right so after that’s done and everything is all you know all those delicious chicken flavors are pulled out of the bones and the chicken we’re going to transfer it to a new pot and strain everything out so I like to put a a strainer over another pie and then strain it inti carefully into the pie I’ll do it over the sink um and then the strainer is going to catch everything other than the broth obviously so we’re going to keep the chicken the veggies uh aside so pull the strainer out and discard of all the veggies we don’t need that anymore and keep the chicken right and that was the fun part let it cool off and just like taking the meat off chicken it’s super fun of me my son is always like Mom can I have a piece of that chicken it’s like the most tender chicken in the world it falls off the bone and it’s super easy to pull off so I’ll get rid of like all the tendons and the cartilage I’ll get rid of the skin if there’s skin we don’t need that in the soup and I’ll just separate the chicken meat from everything else everything else usually will get discarded because I don’t have any other use for it because it’s usually mush at that point and then once you have the I’ll sometimes munch on one of those carrots there’s something about like I’m not going to cook with it or anything but it’s like it’s just soaked up all that like chicken and herb flavor and it’s just such a nice little like soft and sometimes honestly and I don’t put carrots in the soup but sometimes if I’m making chicken noodle soup I will save those carrots chop them up and put them back in the soup oh yeah for the avalo because we don’t do carrots no no no carrots on the avalo no so and then once you have the chicken you chop it up into small pieces or you pull it apart depending you know um what part of the chicken it is and then save put that on the side save it now you have your pot of just beautifully flavored chicken stock it’s super um translucent you know you can it’s very beautiful we’re going to keep it warm or if you already cool it off reheat it put bring it to a boil and then we’re going to add a pasta or a rice I like either one I usually do Rice because I try to do gluten-free because I’m a little Gluten Sensitive and rice is a is very traditional with this type of soup so I’ll do like you can do white rice you can do wild rice which is really it adds a beautiful color and that’s what I used in my recipe on my blog and you do about a cup of rice in the stock you add about a cup or another cup or two of water because a lot of that water has already evaporated and that stock will have been like reduced by a lot and then we’re going to cook rice like you normally would in water like 15 to 20 minutes however you like the rice you can’t really overcook it at this point because it’s soup it’s not like you’re making a risotto you know what I’m saying it doesn’t matter if it’s 18 minutes or 19 minutes right once the rice is cooked you’re going to turn off the heat and this is this is the point where I would say if there is a complicated part this would be the complicated part okay so get a couple of eggs I believe it’s two or three eggs let me double check um because it depends on how much broth I have usually I’ll do two yeah two eggs so how much how much broth does a two egg avoc two I usually do two cups you can’t and this is not exact science it doesn’t the more the better because the whole idea is we’re going to slowly introduce the hot stock to the cold eggs but if we do it fast you’re going to get scrambled eggs because the heat is going to cook the eggs and eggs really are very temper temperamental right so we’re going to temper that’s what it’s called the eggs by slowly streaming in the stock with one hand and I’m I’m like such a hand I’m showing how to do it I mean I can see you but nobody else can and I would recommend putting the bowl with with the eggs so you’re going to scramble the eggs in one large bowl you’re going to have I have a two cup measuring cup in my other hand with the stock in it and I’m going to put like a towel under the bowl so that when you whisk it it doesn’t move because that it’s going to slow you down so put a towel put the eggs over the towel um in the bowl and then get a whisk and then slowly whisk the eggs and Stream in kind of like you’re making like a like a mayonnaise I don’t know if you’ve ever made or D you slowly stream in whisk it as much as you can very very slowly you can’t mess up if you go slowly if you go fast you might but the beginning stage is so important because you don’t want to scramble the eggs if you do it’s kind of like you got to start over again and so this the stock has to be hot while you’re doing this and you’re going slow but are you eventually trying to get the full two cups in there you just slowly slowly it’ll take about a couple minutes it won’t I know I’m making it sound like it’ll take forever but it streams pretty quickly and then once you’re a cup in the eggs now are warmer because of the stock and it’s much easier to incorporate without at that point they’re like okay we’re in the hot tub like we’re good we’re we’re you know we’re comfortable we’re used to the water you know what I mean so then once the two cups are fully whisked in then you take that that bowl of eggs and stock and you pour back in the stock the pot with the rice and then you stir that in and you immediately it’s going to become super cloudy and that’s exactly what we want right and then after that you add your chick remember it’s off the heat it’s just warm now the soup um add your chicken back in sometimes I won’t even use all the chicken I’ll save and freeze the extra chicken for like you know another dinner fajitas or something and then I’ll add the lemon juice it’s about what do I do like two tablespoons maybe three I love lemons in My Soup I’ll add I’ll add like a whole lemon into my bowl when I’m eating it my husband isn’t as lemon obsessed as I am so I’ll put a couple lemons in at the end I’ll season with salt because soup needs needs a lot of salt there is no seasoning that we I mean you I do usually add salt with the stock in in the beginning of the recipe just to season the chicken but add as much salt to taste to your liking and then and then I’m like picturing now my family cuz my my grandma my yya we call her makes would make this and still does make this every Christmas or New Year’s depending when we her so I would see all of my family getting the salt and pepper shakers and they’re always adding more salt because you know older folks I feel like are a little bit more um what’s the word not as generous with the salt and I’m always like I want salt to your food and I remember this because I used to work with my parents doughnut shop and I would cook them breakfast and they would always say it’s too salty I’m like oh no but add salt and pepper season it add your your fresh herbs at this point because it’s really just like a a very Bland or the color isn’t there’s nothing popping in it it’s just the the color of the soup and the chicken so I’ll add a bright green fresh herbs so my goto is usually parsley but with Greek cooking Dill is very popular so I’ll put fresh Dylan which is a very tasty addition that I I am obsessed with I love that my family is Ukrainian going back and there they a lot of Dill in Ukrainian food as well I don’t know like Greek and Greek and Ukrainian food are not similar in many other ways but the dill the dill it’s and it’s an herb that not I feel like a lot of people aren’t comfortable using or don’t use just like like Teragon it’s I love using unique herbs I the thing about Dill I think that people don’t use it and they don’t think to use it or don’t know to use it but they like it like everybody loves dill pickles you know what I mean and like I so I think they’re like oh what is that I’m like it’s Dill like whe there’s D there so I think people aren’t used to it or don’t think about it but they actually mostly like it whereas I know a lot of people don’t like Teragon like don’t like teron or like have that the cantro problem cream in a cream sauce with like a seafood oh my God I had it one time at like a bone fish restaurant or like one of those chains and I was like what is and this was like 15 years ago when I was like super young and didn’t really know what you know what herbs were I was like what is in this and he was like it’s teron I’m like I’ve never cooked with it and from that point forward I always include it in like creamy dishes it’s really such a great herb anyway no I hear you but you would you put Teragon in the Avo lemono no it’s got like Ton’s got like slight like licorice type flavor which I absolutely hate Licor so don’t let that turn you off from it but no I mean you can you totally can any herb is like is open for for play but I usually do parsley or dill or my really my name too no that sounds lots of freshly Cracked Pepper that’s really it it it sounds wonderful it is so good so good so is this recipe on your website ala yep it’s here it’s you can search like Greek lemon chicken soup or if you if you’re Greek you know how to spell avoc linal it’s actually it’s spelled exactly like it sounds I or at least exactly as how how I’m saying it no I many other Greek uh dish names that are much more complicated to say yeah no that’s an easy one well okay SOA people want to find you online where is the best place that they should go to see what you’re up to you can find me on obviously my website is ala’s getet together.com or I’m on Instagram and if you’re Tik Tok on to Tik Tok I’m there as well but usually Instagram is my main um platform that I like to post lots of videos on just fun things and not all of that content is on my blog so that’s like extra stuff that I like to post super fun that’s wonderful well happy Memorial Day thank you so much for doing this with me today yes happy Memorial Day everybody thanks for having [Music] me Avo lemono is so good and I hope you got some great ideas for celebrating Memorial Day weekend this weekend as well definitely go and check out ala Shunk uh ala together.com and ala get together on Instagram you will find so many great ideas from Ala there so good as to what I am cooking this week it is a shorter week and I’m not doing very much cooking for the websites but you remember I I was telling you that we were working on an alfredo sauce that uses cream cheese because that had actually been requested on the site I have a bunch of different alfredo recipes and somebody was like I’m pretty sure that my mom used to make one with crep cheese can you do that I was like oh interesting I will research I will find out so I found out and I made it and it was really really good actually you know Jennifer who cooks with me one of her kids is an absolute Alfredo lover and so she went home that day and they made a batch and huge success in her house they all loved it so much I will say it was slightly less successful in my house but that is because people in my house don’t really like parmesan cheese I know it doesn’t make any sense but there is a lot of Parmesan cheese in this sauce and it was not a huge hit in my house but Jennifer’s house they loved it so it is good for sure my family aside I will say I loved it but more importantly when we were making it it’s done like in a saucepan on the stove but you’re really just melting cream cheese and butter together and then adding the cheese and some milk and I was like you know what I could totally make this in the microwave like there’s no reason for this to be done in a pot and I’m not somebody who loves to cook in the microwave usually but I do like if something is really really easy and I can do it in there and it doesn’t sacrifice anything and everything is the same otherwise I will give it a try and so we did a quick test last week and when I was doing it I actually put less milk in because I was worried about it incorporating properly and what happened was it turned into such a delicious dip like it was thicker so this week we are retesting this and we’re going to be doing the microwave cream cheese alfredo sauce as a pasta sauce and also playing with it as a really decadent like parmesan garlic cheese Hot dip you know so all of that came came out of this experimentation last week and so we’re going to finish those off and photograph them I’m really excited about those but I think that is all that is happening in my kitchen recipe development wise this week anyhow as to what is going live on the website we have that rib tips recipe going up on cook the story so that is you guys have been hearing me talk about ribs Galore lately when you trim the tops off of the spare ribs so you end up with the St Louis ribs and then the other strip along the top you cut those into little pieces those are the rib tips and they are delicious and I have the perfect recipe for how to cook those that is going Live this week and also a really great cucumber salad this one’s a cucumber onion salad super tasty I just cucumber and onion together are so good this one’s not creamy like some of the other ones I was talking about it’s for more when I’m craving something just a little bit more on the basic side fresh and light and I know you’re going to love it that one’s going live on the cook full and what am I talking about on this show this week it will not be much of a surprise to you that I am talking about those rib tips and about the cucumber onion salad oh tomorrow come and listen perfect for Memorial Day I’m telling you how to make the best deved eggs we also have a fish cakes recipe coming up this week oh a really nice easy week night tilapia recipe and a delicious Balsamic chicken breast recipe so stay tuned for all of those those are coming one a day every day 7 days a week I’ve done it a thousand times I’m not going to stop now you can count on me to find all of the episodes that I’ve recorded you can go to cook theory.com rotd and you will find them there or you can search for recipe of the day wherever you listen to podcasts the other place that is great to find the recipes that I’m talking about I have not been doing it for the full thousand so they’re not all linked to there but a lot of them are that is our Facebook group you you can join that at facebook.com/ groups recipe okay I want to say a big thank you to Ala for being such a great guest and thank you for listening and you know if you wanted to do something nice to help me celebrate I would love it if you would tell a friend or somebody that you know that listens to podcasts and loves cooking let them know about the recipe of the day podcast spread the word that would be such a great gift GI for me on this celebration I’d really appreciate it I am Christine Pitman from cook theory.com the cook.com the allnew chicken cookbook and from this podcast recipe of the day I hope you have a great long weekend let’s get cooking